Noah, write of him, preach on him, thank God for him, look up to him
as, next to Abraham, their greatest example in the Old Testament.

Well, my friends, to understand what made Noah so great, we must
understand in what times Noah lived. "The wickedness of men was
great in the earth in those days, and every imagination of the
thoughts of their heart was only evil continually, and the earth was
filled with violence through them." And we must remember that the
wickedness of men before the flood was not outwardly like wickedness
now; it was not petty, mean, contemptible wickedness of silly and
stupid men, such as could be despised and laughed down; it was like
the wickedness of fallen angels. Men were then strong and
beautiful, cunning and active, to a degree of which we can form no
conception. Their enormous length of life (six, seven, and eight
hundred years commonly) must have given them an experience and
daring far beyond any man in these days. Their bodily size and
strength were in many cases enormous. We read that "there were
giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the
sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare
children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men
of renown." Their powers of invention seem to have been
proportionably great. We read, in the fourth chapter of Genesis,
how, within a few years after Adam was driven out of Paradise, they
had learned to build cities, to tame the wild beasts, and live upon
their milk and flesh; that they had invented all sorts of music and
musical instruments; that they had discovered the art of working in
metals. We read among them of Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every
workman in brass and iron; and the old traditions in the East, where
these men dwelt, are full of strange and awful tales of their power.